


Buy it, please!

by deutschistklasse



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Realities, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, MuffinLance's AUs, POV Zuko (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25532782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deutschistklasse/pseuds/deutschistklasse
Summary: Towards the Sun!Zuko meets Vaatu. He gets to choose an alternate universe to live in, for the low price of freeing the trapped spirit. What destiny will Zuko want to follow? - Or the fic where uncle's latest lesson stuck with Zuko. Bonus: we see a bunch of MuffinLance's AUs through his eyes.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 316





	Buy it, please!

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The One Where Zuko's Hair Matches Sokka's and Other Tales](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632206) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance). 



> I was down the rabbit hole, came back with a bunch of weird ideas and made that everybody else's problem. Again.  
> Inspired by MuffinLance's tumblr posts, some AUs she just mentioned once in some tags, AUs she inspired in others and AUs written by her fully. Thanks to Phantoms_Echo for the encouraging words. I tried.  
> All of you have a nice day! :)
> 
> Warning: Some angst, mentions of child abuse, mentions of character death and borderline suicidal thoughts, but not much and nothing explicit. Some swear-words too. If you read MuffinLance's works and tumblr posts, you know they are there.

There was just the vast sea and the darkening sky to look. He was alone. He didn’t see anyone following him, but that could change anytime. He had walked out of his own coronation as Crown Prince, making himself known as an enemy to a former father figure. He stifled a yawn.

Ex-Fire-Lord-slash-Crown-Prince-again-slash-Enemy-of-the-state Zuko was really tired. The war balloon would fly much quicker if he could firebend, but he wasn’t capable to light even a little spark. He should have landed since an hour or so, but he had a while to go to the island where Azula was exiled.

Fire Lord Iroh said, she was in an asylum for her own good, but had he actually asked Azula, what was good for her? No, he just shipped her out of the Capital City, maybe from fear of another scandal or an attempt on his life. Azula wasn’t a scaredy cat-rabbit, she always did, what she thought would have the best results.

Iroh claimed to have his best interest at heart too. But again, he didn’t ask what Zuko wanted. He just assumed he was right, and manipulated everything to match his beliefs. His uncle underestimated him and his capacity to look underneath his words.

Zuko almost fell for his fatherly act. If not for that damned Agni Kai, he would be Iroh’s puppet again. But not anymore. He was done. Everybody wanted something from him, and they didn’t even have the decency to respect him and his boundaries. So to hell with them! He laughed mirthlessly. He was going to free Azula and run for it.

His attention was captured by an unnaturally bright light to the right of the next island. He wanted to investigate it. It could be a bad idea, but he wasn’t a prince anymore, nor the Fire Lord, he didn’t have the obligation to stay alive until somebody better took his place. He was curious, so he landed on a nearby clearing.

Being just half awake, he felt more than saw the changes in his surroundings. Then he stood before the light. It appeared harmless, really. Just a big tree with a weird rug trapped inside it, who beckoned him.

„Closer. Come closer. Even closer, please.”

Zuko didn’t see the harm in indulging the Rug Spirit. He saw weirder things in his years of exile, banished by his father. Now he was the one who banished himself from the palace, not waiting for uncle to do it. He almost laughed at the irony. Maybe falling in a spirit tale immediately afterwards was normal for being in exile.

The Rug Spirit seemed calm and collected. Zuko was instantly wary. People in his experience didn’t remain calm for long. Not with him. Never with him.

„I’m Vaatu. Could you help me get free? Raava played a mean prank on me, then left me here trapped.”

Vaatu? Raava? Zuko never heard of these spirits, but he remembered how frustrated he felt, when somebody he trusted left him weak and trapped. But he wasn’t going to trust the spirit just because he said so. He knew better, than just to take everything on face value. Uncle’s latest lesson helped. Maybe this time it would stick.

„Why should I free you? I don’t know anything about you. If I help you, you could just betray me and possess me or something.”

Vaatu was clearly disappointed with his answer. What did he think, that he would act straight away? Maybe the old Zuko would have done it without question. But not the new Zuko. He hoped, at least Azula would be proud.

„You don’t have the best experiences with spirits, am I right? But I can help you. I can give you anything you want. Riches, power, a new reality… Name your price and I can give it to you. Just release me.”

It was tempting. Oh, how tempting it was. To escape his failures. To have a new life, a new destiny. But there wasn’t, no, there couldn’t be a spirit so powerful to just change everything. He frowned.

„New reality? What are you talking about? No spirit can change the whole universe. You’re lying!”

„I’m not! I’m the Spirit of Chaos, I can and I did change the world before! I can do it again! Just let me out!”

Zuko’s curiosity grew with every sentence. He wanted to know what life could he have, if he helped Vaatu. His thoughts must have been obvious, because the spirit lifted two of his appendages, and grazed Zuko’s temple. Memories flashed before his eyes, of Azula, of uncle, of his family, of the Avatar and his friends, but too quickly to concentrate on any of them. Then the world went dark.

Zuko found himself floating. Around him stars frisked about, northern lights sang and the darkness laughed. Vaatu’s projection flew near him.

„I saw your heart and your desires. There are endless alternate universes to choose. You can take the place of any of the Zukos here. What do you think about a world where Iroh died instead of Lu Ten?”

Zuko watched, how his uncle was crushed beneath the earth, how his cousin was still killed, how he was even now banished and cursed to chase the Avatar. How his crew changed him, how he begged the Water Tribe girl, then the Avatar for help. He almost choked, when the Avatar still wiped out his crew, his found family. He felt the rage of that Zuko, who then hunted down the Avatar, took him home, then killed his own father.

He was horrified. What was this? Did Vaatu seriously think, that Zuko would sacrifice his own reality for this? He didn’t want uncle dead. He loved him, but he broke his trust when he needed him the most. Maybe it was revenge for his own betrayal in Ba Sing Se, maybe another one of his games. Who knows? For now he wanted uncle - and to be honest, father too - out of his life, but not dead. Zuko wasn't a murderer.

„No? Then a world, where Iroh didn’t die, but isn’t so involved with you? And maybe where instead of banishment, you are enrolled in the army?”

Zuko watched another version of him being abused by his father. He watched how he was announced dead, then promptly enrolled in the army. He saw, how almost every firebender bore the curse of firebending, the burn marks caused by their own fire. He couldn’t look anymore.

„Stop it! What world is this? How could our firebending, our very own soul be reduced to this? This is madness!”

„What about this world? Here the firebenders don’t burn themselves. You can find dragons too. Hmm, what do you say?”

Zuko watched himself being born from a dragon mother and a human father. He watched how his mother abandoned them, thinking, they were old enough to take care of themselves. He was still burned by his father in his human form, but was going feral in dragon form, attacking him, mutilating him. He saw the protectiveness his uncle had for him, and his own hoarding tendencies. He went slowly insane with worry.

No. He didn’t want this. It was enough going almost insane in this reality.

„Not this one, no? What about this? There you have a new mother, who didn’t leave you, who watched over you, and no one disturbed your duo, not your father, not your sister, and definitely not your uncle.”

Zuko felt dread coursing through him. The moon was full and his counterpart’s body wasn’t cooperating. He was controlled by an old woman, who called herself his mother.

Agni above! Couldn’t there be one reality, just one, where he didn’t have a monster as a parent?

„You want a mother, who will raise you right with all her heart? Maybe I can show you such an alternate universe.”

Zuko saw a delirious child hiding under a table and a cat who helped them learn how to make food, how to set boundaries, how to help an old herbalist in her craft. He looked closer at that world’s Zuko, who was self-confident, traveled with the Avatar, let the Water Tribe girl do their luxurious hair, seduced without meaning the men in the Northern Water Tribe and became the first male healer, much to the chagrin of that sexist old man Pakku.

They were revolutionary. Zuko quite liked that hair they rocked, the ease they wore male or female clothing, and did what they wanted, expectations be damned.

„You like this world? Release me, and it can be your reality.”

„No. I like what I became, but there is too much of the Avatar. I don’t want him near me.”

„Okay, let’s see. In this you’re living with your uncle in Ba Sing Se. The Avatar isn’t there to mess it up.”

Another vision appeared before him. This world’s Zuko was sleeping peacefully on his uncle’s shoulder in a police station in a guard’s uniform, after helping feral children escape their kidnapper after being chased all over town by guards, who wanted to recruit him, and guards, who wanted to kill him.

Zuko felt a headache forming. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

„I don’t want this kind of life. It’s too hectic. Too chaotic.”

„You dislike chaos? What do you think you were causing chasing the Avatar all over the world? I quite enjoyed those memories of yours. Don’t you want to combine our power and make his life much more difficult?”

Vaatu miscalculated. Zuko knew about manipulation, with his last actions uncle made sure to open his eyes. Zuko never had anything for free. Love, acceptance, validation… everything was conditional.

The spirit didn’t notice or didn’t care for his suspicious stare. He continued.

„You free me, and I help you become the Avatar of Chaos. I will give you unimaginable power, and we can make the Avatar’s and Raava’s life unbearable. Just release me. Merge with me. Accept my power as your own.”

Zuko’s blood ran cold. His breathing quickened, and he clenched his fists, growling low. He was taken for a fool again. No, this ended there. He began to float away, but Vaatu’s voice stopped him. He sounded smug.

„We did it in multiple universes. And we were successful. Don’t you want to see one?”

Before Zuko could get away, he was caught in another vision. This time he was burned much more extensively, chased by the whole world. Father and uncle hated him, but Azula was loyal. And he had friends, who spread chaos everywhere. And it was funny, when he asked the Avatar’s bison to teach him airbending. The look on the Avatar’s face was something to cherish for life. But he saw clearly, that all his problems originated in him letting Vaatu in.

„No, thank you. If this is your goal, then you need to find yourself another fool. I won’t do it.”

Vaatu seemed desperate. His initial calmness melted away with each rejected universe.

„It’s just optional, not obligatory. If you don’t want to combine our power, then we won’t. But please, let me out of Raava’s trap.”

Zuko faced Vaatu fully, observing him. He wasn’t convinced, but he could give another chance to the spirit. Maybe it wouldn’t be a total waste of time. It would be nice to live in a world, where Azula loved him, or at least was loyal to him.

„You want love and loyalty from your sister? I know the perfect universe for you.”

Zuko watched himself be a bright eyed fourteen-year-old kid, imperialist and too trusting in a charming way. He was saved from being burned and banished by Azula, but even so he was searching for the Avatar and trying to persuade him to change sides.

This universe couldn’t be real. There must be a catch, the spirits, no, the whole universe hated him, no way there would be a reality where he was healthy, loved by somebody and happy.

He must have said this aloud, because Vaatu showed him another alternate universe, just like a merchant showing off his best merchandise.

There Zuko was even younger, adopted by the Water Tribe siblings and his crew, had a fake fiancée, also Water Tribe, and was responsible for a whole Fire Nation fleet. Uncle was nowhere to be seen, but the Avatar was there again.

„The Avatar is everywhere. If you want my cooperation, maybe you should show me a reality, where I don’t have to see him all the time.”

„Hm, then maybe this universe. You have a new almost-father and almost-uncle too. There isn’t any uncle Iroh or Avatar to screw you over.”

This world felt controversial for him. After this Zuko fell in the ocean and was rescued by a Water Tribe ship, he was first treated as a villain, then later as a kid. He found a family with the crew, but he was ready to renounce, maybe even erase his whole identity to fit in. How could he stoop to this level?

No, this wasn’t him. He never was this desperate for comfort and affection from a father figure. He would never lower himself this much in front of the enemy just for acceptance. He was proud to be Fire Nation.

And if he thought about it, he didn’t have any more expectations piled on him, he was free to act how he wanted. After all, he wasn’t royalty anymore. He could do everything he ever dreamed about. These so-called alternate realities were just illusions to confuse him. He didn’t need another life to make his own destiny. He turned to Vaatu.

„I have a sick relative to visit and rescue, and I don’t trust you not to possess me if I free you. I’m not stupid. You are as manipulative as my uncle, and you want me to obey you just as much. Good luck with another idiot!”

Zuko thought, if he could, the Spirit of Chaos would murder him. Visions of yet unvisited alternate universes swirled around him, blinding him, disorienting him.

There was one where he ate sunlight just like a plant.

Another where he was joined by a lying Avatar and the Water Tribe siblings in his quest to find the Avatar.

And another where he was killed by the Water Tribe girl and transformed into a phoenix chick.

Again another one where he always had the same hair as the Water Tribe idiot.

And another where he had amnesia and joined the Earth Army as a scout.

Once he was raised by Yuyan archers, once he was a pirate, once a wizard in training.

He saw fragments of a reality where June was his adoptive mother, parenting together with Chief Hakoda.

In another fragmented world he was best friends with a Kyoshi warrior named Suki, traveling through the Fire Nation in search of the Avatar.

In a yet not fully formed reality he had the Ocean Spirit as a pet.

The last alternate universe almost shouted at him to buy it. He was maybe twelve, naive and believing in the greatness of the war, riding a polar bear-goose made of lightning to the Agni Kai arena. He had the Ocean Spirit in a bowl, his fake fiancée carried a turtleduck, and a catopus perched on his shoulder tried to reach for the fish. A horde of phoenixes, dragons and albatross-pigeons flew behind him.

June threw a bound Hama at his feet. Zhao cowered before him, father disappeared in a puff of smoke, while Lieutenant Jee and Azula cheered for him from the sideline. Chief Hakoda, Earth Dad and uncle Iroh all proclaimed their care and respect for him, chanting his name in unison. A female Pakku handed him a healer certificate.

The Avatar and his companions hugged him as he soaked in the sunlight, feeling himself power up. His long pink hair swayed in the breeze, revealing the tattoo on his nape – _Fuck the Patriarchy_. As he transformed into a dragon-phoenix hybrid, Miyuki pranced up to him while she dictated Zuko’s biography to a cabbage merchant.

With his last ounce of strength Zuko pulled himself free. Vaatu’s projection tore in two, the northern lights shattered and the stars cried. The darkness shrieked, pain coursing through Zuko’s mind and soul.

Zuko found himself in front of the tree again, Vaatu trying desperately to reach him. The almost rabid spirit cursed him, threatened him, swore an oath to kill him when he escaped, but Zuko didn’t care. Azula threw lightning at him regularly and uncle almost killed him in his last Agni Kai. He wasn’t afraid of death anymore, sometimes he even would have welcomed it.

He didn’t run. The spirit’s voice was dying down with each step he took until he reached his war balloon. It was late. He lied down, watching the stars with a dopey smile. It was good to be able to choose for himself. For the first time in his life, he felt free.


End file.
